Bartter, La Ionica producer Turi Foods, and the Australian Chicken Meat Federation to the Federal Court — alleging misleading or deceptive advertising related to claims about the treatment of chickens raised for meat.

The four defendants have over the past several years used the claim that chickens raised for chicken meat are 'free roaming' or 'free to roam in large barns' in their advertising, on product packaging and/or websites — giving consumers the false impression that factory farmed chickens are afforded substantial space allowing them to roam freely. But the ACCC alleges that the population density of meat chickens raised in barns preclude such movement.

BREAKING NEWS: 14 September: After charges were laid against Steggles, fast food giant KFC (which sources large numbers of chickens from Steggles) has pulled "free to roam" claims from its website. Read more...

For the vast majority of their lives, these birds have less space to themselves than an A4 sized piece of paper. The birds' ability to move is also restricted by their unnatural growth rate — three times faster than natural — which makes their bodies so heavy as they get older that many struggle to move to reach for food and water. Others suffer heart failure as their hearts struggle to cope under the pressure of their overweight bodies.

Anatomy of a Tiger - Learn about the very real threat to these beautiful creatures

"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men." ~Alice WalkerThe source of the quote is Walker's preface to Marjorie Spiegel's 1988 book, "The Dreaded Comparison" . Her next sentence was, "This is the gist of Ms. Spiegel's cogent, humane and astute argument, and it is sound."